Franciscan Identity Assembly

Posted February 9, 2017

To round out our Catholic Schools Week, the Spiritual Life Office put together an assembly to showcase what makes a Franciscan education so special.Even
though we live this life day in and day out, it is hard to put into words what it means to be Franciscan. Two student speakers, Tony '17 and Morgan
'18 talked about their experience at Roger Bacon and how special it has been. Dr. Wittekind '82 tried to put into words what it means to be Franciscan,
he gave us a speech about our emphasis on academics and extracurricular, ultimately saying it is like herding cats. Spartans are Franciscan cats, involved
in a lot of things and passionate about academics and extra-curriculars.

A young alum, Sam Hoefling '16 came back from St. Bonaventure, a Franciscan university in New York to talk about continuing his Franciscan education
at the next level. Sam emphasized that the caring and challenging environment of Roger Bacon has been the stepping stone for his future. If it
wasn't for Roger Bacon, Sam would not have had the opportunity to continue at St. Bonaventure. Our last speaker for the day was Fr. Ross Chamberland
from St. Bonaventure who said it best. "Franciscans are good at relationships. We do fraternity, brotherhood and sisterhood, very well."

With Fr. Ross from St. Bonaventure in town, President Tom Burke signed a Memorandum of Understanding to continue the strong relationship between Roger
Bacon and St. Bonaventure. SBU will award an additional $5,000 to any Roger Bacon senior planning to attend SBU. They will host an annual retreat
for current Spartans. Also, a St. Bonaventure admissions representative will visit RB twice a year and Roger Bacon will display information and
inform current students about St. Bonaventure University. The continued relationship between Roger Bacon and St. Bonaventure is a great way to
show how the Franciscans do fraternity well - we support one another in our ventures and work together to continue Franciscan education.